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Termination of StartCom business

startcomca.com

41–47 of 47 posts

Re: Termination of StartCom business

#41

I had an interesting experience with these guys. About 3 years ago I registered the domain "getmoneymakemoney.com" and got a free StartSLL cert from them. Three days later they revoked it because they said the domain sounded like a scam site. I called them and tried arguing to no avail. I said it was just an adaptation of line from a rap song and hosted my personal blog (which it did!) but they didn't care. Go figure…

I've got similar experience. It turned out my (four letter) domain is one letter away from some other domain and was detected as a typosquatting. Only way to get certificate from them would be to undergo Extended Verification.

Re: Termination of StartCom business

#42
post #41

I had an interesting experience with these guys. About 3 years ago I registered the domain "getmoneymakemoney.com" and got a free StartSLL cert from them. Three days later they revoked it because they said the domain sounded like a scam site. I called them and tried arguing to no avail. I said it was just an adaptation of line from a rap song and hosted my personal blog (which it did!) but they didn't care. Go figure…

I've got similar experience. It turned out my (four letter) domain is one letter away from some other domain and was detected as a typosquatting. Only way to get certificate from them would be to undergo Extended Verification.

I like the spirit behind this idea, but in practice I guess it's tricky.

"gail.com" is probably one of the most valuable typo squats, but it's also someone's name.

Re: Termination of StartCom business

#43

I had an interesting experience with these guys. About 3 years ago I registered the domain "getmoneymakemoney.com" and got a free StartSLL cert from them. Three days later they revoked it because they said the domain sounded like a scam site. I called them and tried arguing to no avail. I said it was just an adaptation of line from a rap song and hosted my personal blog (which it did!) but they didn't care. Go figure…

Note that these are not the same people. StartCom was sold to WoSign, and it is WoSign who terminated StartCom business after ruining the StartCom name. StartCom actually tried to be good net citizens.

Re: Termination of StartCom business

#44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amusing that they couldn't get the encoding correct on their final email either.

It’s correct in the email I received. It’s a non-ascii apostrophe so I guess certain mail clients might not handle it correctly?

I copied and pasted from Outlook... probably Outlook's fault honestly.

Re: Termination of StartCom business

#45

I had an interesting experience with these guys. About 3 years ago I registered the domain "getmoneymakemoney.com" and got a free StartSLL cert from them. Three days later they revoked it because they said the domain sounded like a scam site. I called them and tried arguing to no avail. I said it was just an adaptation of line from a rap song and hosted my personal blog (which it did!) but they didn't care. Go figure…

Note that these are not the same people. StartCom was sold to WoSign, and it is WoSign who terminated StartCom business after ruining the StartCom name. StartCom actually tried to be good net citizens.

Well, besides charging ludicrous amounts of money for certificate revocations in light of major internet events..

Re: Termination of StartCom business

#46
I have sent them an email to opt out and received the following response :

"Hi,

Sure, we will record your user ID and your details won't be transferred to other CA, as the alternative CA option is for those who need it.

Startcom certification Authority"

Re: Termination of StartCom business

#47
post #2

Apparently, they also sent out an e-mail with the same text to their customers, with an addendum that they are going to try to get a certificate for each customer with other CAs, and that to opt-out, one has to send them an e-mail. I found that addendum quite strange. Such thing should be opt-in, in my opinion.

Thank you very much for pointing out about the opt-out crap. I also got the email but I didn’t bother to read past the first paragraph because I stopped using them as soon as I switched to cloudlfare for my certificates. I always hated their interface but as a broke high school student I couldn’t afford to have a paid certificate. Thankfully we have Let’s Encrypt now

I have received a follow up email by them in a very timely manner:

    > Hi,
    > 
    > Sure, we will record your user ID and your details won't be transferred to other CA, as the alternative CA option is for those who need it.
    > 
    > Best regards,
    > StartCom Certification
    > Authority
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